I love this author's books and knew I was in for a treat and an entertaining rom com with this one. This was a great uplifting and entertaining read and was the perfect Christmas pick me up. This was such an uplifting feel good read and just what I needed.

If you have been looking for a while for THAT book to warm your heart in the winter season, this amazing title might be THE ONE for you. All the characters were absolutely charming, the writing style was engaging, and the humor was absolutely delicious. Such a great read!

I picked this book up because it was recommended or fans of Beth O'Leary. It did not disappoint!

When Nick loses his job and is dumped by his glamorous but demanding girlfriend, he is forced to grudgingly accept work as a Santa at a local Christmas grotto. As his friends are getting married or promoted, Nick spends his days being terrorized by unfriendly elves and cried on by snotty, spoiled children.

Then he meets 4-year-old Alfie. All Alfie wants for Christmas is for his mum, Sarah, to be happy again. Moved by the boy's selfless wish, Nick arranges a date between Sarah and his best friend, Matt. But as Sarah and Alfie become part of all their lives, Nick realises that happiness for Sarah and Matt might mean heartbreak for himself.

*Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this book for review*

When I read the synopsis for this book I was hooked, a grumpy santa falling in love with someone he shouldn't? I'm sold.

This is the first time I've read a romance which was solely told from the POV of a man and I was pleasantly surprised.

The story was heartwarming, it was a tad slow to start with as I struggled to gel with Nick but I think I just wasn't taking the time to sit down and immerse myself. I read the last half of the book in a day and it made me feel all the feels.

It was a little predictive towards the end, but it was a HEA romance so its to be expected. I do feel the main story could have ended after the big romantic gesture on the train and then had the epilogue, everything else was just filler and it didn't add anything.

Overall though, I really enjoyed it and I'm interested to read other books by this author in the future!

3.5 rounded up

All I Want for Christmas follows Nick just after he loses his job at a law firm and his girlfriend dumps him. In his search for his next endeavor, he ends up working as Santa at a local shop. He comes across many children but one particular kiddo, Alfie who asks Santa for his mom to be happy again, makes a mark on Nick. Believing that his own life is in shambles, Nick decides to set up his best friend with Alfie’s mom, Sarah. But once he gets a chance to spend more time with Sarah, he wonders if he made the right choice in setting his friend up with her.

While this story was a bit predictable, I enjoyed it. I did believe that the ending felt a little rushed, but seeing the relationship of many of the characters develop throughout the book was nice. Overall, it was a funny and heartwarming novel with the perfect amount of holiday cheer!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the gifted e-book!

Maybe this is just me and my choice of books, but it's so rare that I find a male character as the main character of a romance. And All I Want For Christmas basically has me craving more of that!

There's such a depth of emotion, in the evolution he goes through, as he grows closer to Sarah - especially as Nick keeps trying to do the right thing by his best friend, Matt, but at the same time he can't. I honestly fell in love with Nick - more than I usually fall in love with any MC. He's so inherently flawed, he's so aware of his failures, and at times he seems so content to just sit in the mess he made... But then, at the same time, I found myself rooting for Nick - for him to grow, and to find that level of comfort with who he was... So to see him actually achieve that was amazing.

The thing is, though, that I found myself rooting for all of the characters - Matt, who still holds a bit of a torch for his old flame, Sarah, who just wants to do what's right, Alfie, who just wants his mum to be happy... And sure, rooting for all of them meant I was constantly in conflict with myself - because, let's be real: surely not all of these characters could have a happy ending? Not with how twisted together their interests were? (spoiler: they could. It was awesome.)

I think the best way to summarise it is that, after I read this story, I wrote 3 minutes' worth of voice notes, just because I had to gush about this story. And, you know - the fact that we get 3 Christmases instead of just one? Just an extra bonus!

3.5 stars

‘All I Want For Christmas’ is a fun, light-hearted rom-com that is perfect for the holiday season. This book follows Nick, who after being fired from his law job, has to take on the role of Santa at a shopping centre. Here, he meets Alfie, who’s one wish for Christmas is for his mother, Sarah, to be happy again after the death of her husband. Nick makes it his mission to make Alfie’s wish come true by setting up Sarah with his roommate/best friend Matt. Nick then starts spending more time with both Alfie and Sarah and he slowly realises he might be falling in love with Sarah.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the first half. I loved reading about Nick’s job as Santa and him getting closer to both Alfie and Sarah whilst having to deny the feelings that he was slowly starting to feel towards Sarah. I do feel like the second half of this book was a lot slower and I found myself not enjoying it as much, probably because most of the second half of the book was not set during Winter/Christmas which is what I expected that this book would be. However, I did really like the ending and found myself tearing up a little bit at the epilogue. Also, Alfie was just the cutest kid and I loved seeing his friendship with Nick growing throughout the book.

‘All I Want For Christmas’ was a sweet and adorable festive read that is a lot of fun and perfect to read during Christmas time.

Thank you to Quercus Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis gives a pretty good indication of what you can expect from this book. Nick finds himself falling in love with Sarah after setting her up with his best friend, Matt. It becomes increasingly harder for him to be around them as their relationship develops. Matt is his best friend in the world, and he'd never do anything to hurt him, even if that means getting his own heart broken.

I enjoyed how this story unfolded. The humor was kind of hit and miss (mostly miss for me but YMMV). My favourite part was the relationship between Alfie and Nick because it was honestly adorable. I was happy with the directions the author chose for the characters and satisfied with the ending. Definitely recommend this if you're looking for a cute, Christmassy romance.

Nick is down on his luck forced to take a job as a mall Santa after losing his lawyer job and girlfriend. There he meets Alfie, a 5 year boy desperate to make his mom happy. Sarah who is alfies mom is a widow doing the best she can as an assistant manager at the mall coffee shop. In a split second move Nick decides to set Sarah and his roommate Matt up. After Nick realizes he may have more feelings for Sarah than he initially thought he has to learn how to manage his feelings to save his friendship with both Sarah and Matt all while trying to get his life together.

All I Want for Christmas was a fast and smooth read. One of my favorite parts of this book was seeing the relationship grow between Nick and Alfie. I think it was awesome how Nick stepped up as a father figure even when he was in a place where he didn't have to.

One area of improvement is that I really think this story would've worked well with multiple POV of Nick and Sarah and without hearing Sarahs side much I felt like there was a level of chemistry missing and seemed to fall flat in spots.

All in all was a fun quick read for the holiday time.

Just what I needed to feel festive! Absolutely loved this book from start to finish. Well written. Thank you for letting me read for an honest review

What a great story, I absolutely loved All I Want for Christmas. I am a big fan of Joanna Bolouri's books and once again, she has made me fall in love with her characters. I had so much fun with Nick, the main character in this story. After losing his job, he takes a temp job as Santa in a shopping centre and spends his days surrounded by very wild creatures, and I am not talking about deers here! Both his elves and the children are a great source of entertainment for us readers, but for him... not so much.

As you can imagine, the story made me laugh a lot. But it also had more serious notes, especially around single mum, Sarah, and her adorable son, Alfie. I loved them and rooted for them since page one and I really wanted the best for them. The friendship they formed with Nick was heartwarming.

Joanna Bolouri kept me on my toes for most of the story, as I really didn't know which way it was going to go until the very end. And I loved every minute of it!

All I Want for Christmas is a great book: original, fun and with Joanna Bolouri's special witty touch. The characters are spot on and the festive spirit is definitely there. I can only praise this story and I recommend it to absolutely everyone. One not to be missed, just go and get yourself a copy. You are in for a treat!

This was my surprised standout of the Christmas books I have read so far this year. It follows Nick who becomes Santa at a local shopping mall after both losing his job and being dumped by his girlfriend. When a young boy tells him his Christmas wish for his mother to be happy again, Nick decides to arrange a date between the boys mother, Sarah, and his best friend. However, when things begin to get more serious between the couple, Nick realises he might have feelings for Sarah himself.
I'm still not over how adorable this was! It's the love triangle trope handled incredibly well and a storyline with quite sad undertones made a lot of fun. Nick is a really great main character. He is going through a really tough time and coping with it through self-depreciating humour, which I both related to and found very entertaining. He is very loveable from the outset but grows so much throughout the book. He really is just a great guy who is willing to put his the happiness of his friend about his own.
The friendships within this book were great. Nick's friendships with both Matt and Sarah were just lovely. Nick and Matt's friendship really highlighted the importance of talking about the serious stuff within male friendships and the fact that it is good to talk about your feelings, as it is mentioned that the two have helped each other through the toughest times of their lives. The friendship between Nick and Sarah was also really sweet, even before Nick realised there were any feelings there. It was just lovely to have very genuine friendships that weren't completely ruined by stupid conflicts. However, the importance and strength of these friendships are what makes the love triangle aspect of the story so difficult. I was worried about how the love triangle would be handled but it was written so well.
There were so many things I really loved about this book, Sarah's son Alfie was a particular highlight, but the ending just didn't live up to my expectations. Things wrapped up a bit too conveniently for my liking and then the last few chapters felt like a bit of a whirlwind. Other than that, this was a really great read.

I`m so into holiday's reading lately... The last Christmas book the I read was All I Want for Christmas, by Joanna Bolouri. This one is a new release and I'm so happy because of this reading!

All I Want for Christmas is one of that books that will warms your heart. Really! So cosy, so perfect!

Here we are going to know a history from a different perspective. Actually, I'm used to reading books by a female point of view. Although, in this one, Nick will tell us his history. Anyway, it is amazing!

The holidays feeling are there in the whole book. I think that's why I enjoyed this, and became one of my Christmas favorites!

Here we are going to Know Nick, a 30 years old men, which lost his job as a lawyer, and his girlfriend dumped him... Now, he has to figure out who he is, actually!

So he runs to find a job, but no one hires him... Anyway, in the Christmas time Nick starts to work as Santa Claus in a Shopping Center and that is going to chance his whole life!

One day, while hi is playing Santa, he meets Alfie, a four years old boy, who has a special wish for Santa. And he meets Sarah, Alfie's mother. Do I need to tell that we are going to have an amazing romance novel, as well? NO!

This is perfect!

I really enjoyed this one and I do recomend it for you who is trying to find a really nice Christmas book!

This was the most refreshing book I have read this year . It’s all heart and told from the point of view of Nick a 30 year old lawyer living in london. How often do we get the perspective of a man in a lighthearted romantic book like this ? All the stuff going on in nick’s head, the camederie between nick and Matt his best friend, Sarah his best friend’s girlfriend he is in love with , Alfie her son. All of these characters were so realistic and relatable. It’s got the Christmas spirit bang on! Incase you are yet to pick a book for the holidays then make it this one !!! Thanks so much NetGalley for this book !

I absolutely adored this Christmas love story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️All I Want For Christmas by @joannabolouri is a story about Nick who is down on his luck. Dumped and jobless at Christmas he becomes a mall Santa Claus. This fun Christmas read was the perfect read right before Christmas break. Thanks #netgalley and @quercusbooks. #AllIwantforchristmas #netgalleyreads #bowkerbooks

I absolutely loved this book, its so funny, it's refreshing and I really wasn't completely sure for most of it whether it would end how I'd want it to.

When we meet Nick is a recently dumped out of work lawyer who is begrudgingly taking on the role of Santa at a local shopping centre. He's not completely sure he likes kids and his main elf is hilarious but doesn't seem that enamored by Nick!

However from the second you meet Alfie, who is 4 and is the complete and utter star of the book, I was hooked, and Nick can't help but be affected when after having had loads of children come in and ask for the latest most expensive toys, when Alfie's only wish for Christmas is for his mum, Sarah, to be happy.

Whose heart wouldn't melt at that point, and as Nick gets to know Sarah and Alfie, we get to see many different sides to Nick, but ultimately I ended up loving him a lot.

This is a refreshing book on so many counts, I don't often read a book written by a woman whose only viewpoint is male, we get the story through Nick's eyes which I absolutely loved. And I've not read that many books where we have our lead playing Santa. Let alone what happens after that first Christmas.

There seems to be a whole lot packed into this festive treat of a book, and it once more shows what a talented writer, Joanna Bolouri is. I couldn't have enjoyed this more if I tried, it was just such a pleasure to be able to sit and read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily,

Fun lighthearted Christmas read that was entirely different from what you expect. Nick is a recently laid off employee who ends up working as a shopping mall Santa. While stuck in this miserable part time job Nick meets Alfie who’s Christmas wish is to make his mom happy again. Nick decides to set Sarah up with his best friend Matt before realizing that he too is in love with Sarah. A perfect holiday read!

I found this a heartwarming and funny read. It was really well written and I enjoyed the story and characters very much.

Thank you NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I have never read a book by this author but love a good Christmas story. The premise behind this book sounded intriguing and given that it was written from the male perspective seemed fresh and interesting. With that in mind, I was exited to read this book. However, I feel like it missed the mark and fell flat.
The main character, Nick, is a down on his luck nice guy. I kept waiting to actually feel sorry for him or want to root for him but that never happened. I wished there had been more interaction with Sarah, the love interest, and perhaps even his roommate Matt.
The ending was nicely wrapped up and didn’t seem at all far fetched.
Overall, it was a decent read but just wasn’t for me.

Nick was a Corporate Solicitor until he was sacked from his job but now he desperately needs a job. The only one on offer is Santa Claus at the shopping centre, but his girlfriend is not happy about it and dumps him. Things can only get better. A good read for this time of year.